They say money buys success in football, with Chelsea and Manchester City just two examples of recent success through serious financial backing. So where has it all gone wrong for Queens Park Rangers?
After Saturdays dire showing away at Swansea they are rock bottom of the Premier League, with only two wins to their name this season and a team full of high earners who frankly do not look interested. One performance that stood out, for all the wrong reasons, was that of Julio Cesar. For a player who has won the Champions League with Inter Milan and won plenty of international caps for Brazil you would have expected him to have dealt better with most of the goals be conceded at Swansea, but there was a clear lack of competency to his performance which appears to have been present throughout the season.
Many thought QPR’s form would pick up after Redknapp took over and especially after he had had the entire January transfer window to bring in players who he feels like keep the Londoners in the division. However, after only two wins and a string of reasonably high profile signings QPR look destined for the drop. The signings in January were interesting if nothing else. Many, none more so than Redknapp himself, were waxing lyrical about the capture of Chris Samba. He is certainly an improvement on their other centre back options but having cost nearly £13 million and on reportedly £120,000 per week most clubs would be expected a top draw centre half. Not a player who was largely responsible for Blackburn Rovers slide to relegation last season.
The same can be said for Loic Remy, clearly a talented young man with the ability to hit the back of the net but having cost £8 million and again on wages 99.9% of us could only ever dream of, you would expect a player with a better goal to game ration than one goal every three matches. As for the other signings, the likes of Jenas and Townsend are solid acquisitions but do not strike you as the sort players who are capable of keeping them in the league.
Their inability to win games against the bottom teams is arguably their biggest fault, even against Swansea this was a wonderful opportunity to take three points yet they never looked like winning. Last week’s home tie against Norwich was another great opportunity to take three vital points yet once again they failed to hit the net and in all fairness never really looked like winning.
After the international break QPR face Manchester United at home, if they fail to pick a win in that game then it truly will be lights out for Rangers. And if rumours are to be believed not many of their high earners have relegation clauses in their contracts. Portsmouth take two anyone?